Even so, it seems probable that the liberal theory, like the conservative one, is in danger of being stretched thin.

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These growing payouts have a special appeal in the current environment, where the safest fixed income securities yield little and inflation seems probable in the future.

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If, as still seems probable, Ms Rousseff wins on October 31st, she will lead a coalition that will probably have more than three-fifths of both houses, enough to change the constitution.

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Yet it seems probable that the factors that have really brought the crime rates down have little to do with policemen or politicians, and more to do with cycles that are beyond their control.

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Fred Thompson (R-TN) observed in the course of Senate debate yesterday, if -- as seems probable -- this deployment proves a debacle, the likely result is going to be an intensified opposition to U.S. internationalism on the part of the American people.

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Separation from the game of baseball in some capacity seems highly probable.

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Looking at these trends, it seems overwhelmingly probable that we will look back on the death penalty as a shameful bit of lingering of savagery.

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But Amazon.com is among the stocks that are likely to do better rather than worse heading into the autumn months (as a retailer and as a technology company) and here, lateral motion seems more probable than a sharp-sell-off.

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But the president seems reluctant to sour his relations with Mr da Silva, his more probable successor.

ECONOMIST: Brazil's presidential election